You are here

Social justice

Maryknoll missioners around the world feel the impact of social injustice and see its effects in the communities were they live and work. Flowing from their ministries of presence and accompaniment, as well as from the concrete programs and projects in which Maryknollers participate, we engage in the hard work of identifying root causes of social and economic injustice. With a particular focus on the geographical regions where Maryknoll is present, as well as on structural or systemic injustice affecting women, children, indigenous peoples, migrants and refugees and people with HIV and AIDS, we join with others of like mind to identify potential pathways to social transformation and to move our world in that direction.

With great concern for the state of the U.S. democracy, eleven national and international Catholic social justice organizations sent the following statement to Congress on the occassion of Martin Luther King Day.

On November 20, 14 Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, sent a statement to members of Congress regarding the Syrian refugee crisis and the need to welcome Syrian refugees.

Maryknoll recognizes the great importance of the publication of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee's report on the use of torture, which details terrible acts of horrific brutality.

Earlier this year, when the 113th Congress passed the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, they included important language (PL 113-4, Sec. 1207) that requires the Secretary of State to establish and implement a multi-year, multi-sectoral strategy that includes both diplomatic and programmatic initiatives to prevent child marriage and empower girls globally.

In most of the world, May 1 is the day to celebrate workers. This year’s commemoration included memorials for the at least 1,127* people who were killed in the terrible collapse on April 24 of a factory in Bangladesh, a disaster that could have been avoided had the building’s owners not shirked their responsibility to provide a safe environment for workers. *Death toll updated from printed version.

The following article was written by Jenn Svetlik, who worked for several months with the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns; Marianne Comfort with the Sisters of Mercy; and Eli McCarthy with the Conference of Major Superiors of Men. A very similar version was published on the Faith-Economy-Ecology-Transformation blog in early April.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) made headlines again in March as Japan was welcomed into the trade negotiations, despite protests from Japanese rice farmers concerned the treaty could undermine their livelihoods.

On March 25, the international day of remembrance of the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade, the United Nations organized a series of events that reminded the world of the slave trade that raged for 400 years and claimed the lives of millions of people.

The death of President Hugo Chavez on March 5 led many to question whether the "Bolivarian Revolution" of significant social and economic changes could continue without Chavez’s larger-than-life presence.

During the recent trial of former president Efrain Rios Montt and former chief of military intelligence Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, observers felt as if they were on a rollercoaster ride as the trial took many twists and turns.